Case Number 04946

FAUSTO 5.0

The Charge

Desire can be deadly.

Opening Statement

Fausto 5.0 is inspired by Dr. Faustus, but it feels more like the
bastard child of Mulholland Dr. and Seven. Unfortunately, it lacks
the quality of any of these inspirations, and becomes muddled almost beyond
description. Despite these problems, it has some of the best art direction I
have ever seen. Fox has released this as part of its Cinema Latino series, with
an excellent transfer but nothing in the way of special features.

Facts of the Case

Dr. Fausto (Miguel Ángel Solá) runs a clinic that specializes in
terminal patients. He is constantly surrounded by death and failure, but he also
has a touch that allows him to save some patients that should be dead. While
traveling to a medical convention, he runs into one such patient named Santos
Vella (Eduard Fernández). Santos promises the doctor anything he could wish
for, which begins a twisted series of events that dig deep into the spoken and
unspoken desires of Fausto. As his wishes are fulfilled, stranger and more
frightening things begin to happen.

The Evidence

The phrase "inspired by" can mean any number of things. In this
case, I think it means that this film has few real connection points to
Marlowe's famous play, but the makers of the film were inspired by the play's
analysis of the darker side of human nature. In Fausto 5.0, however, that
analysis takes a very different shape. While the original tale was a moral
lesson about ambition, the film focuses more on our tendency to dwell on
terrible desires and wishes, which would make the world a terrible place if they
began to come true.

Certainly, in this case, Dr. Fausto does not ask for these dreams to start
coming true. He is a kind man, if cold, that wants nothing to do with Santos
when they first meet. It is only after Santos starts to prove his ability to
make these desires come to life that Fausto is willing to take a trip through
the dark side of his nature. Unfortunately, this is handled somewhat poorly over
the course of the film. For this to work well, we would need to see the mundane
life of Fausto at the beginning, followed by a believable and appealing offering
of his desires, followed by a gradual trip into hell that he would not be able
to escape. Instead of doing this, directors Álex Ollé, Isidro Ortiz,
and Carlos Padrisa decided to create the whole film in a nightmare world. The
scene in the clinic at the beginning is ugly and otherworldly, and the rest of
the film is just as unsettling and disturbing. Because of this, there is no real
starting point for the audience to connect with Fausto. This could mean that he
is somewhat evil to begin with, or it could mean that something about being
around death so much has begun to kill him.

Now, it's not that I mind some ambiguity here and there in films. This is
the reason that I drew a comparison between this film and Mulholland Dr.
The latter worked well because it felt like it should fit together somehow, but
was always a little bit elusive, dancing just out of reach. Fausto 5.0 is
just as elusive, but it is not crafted well enough that I ever felt like there
was anything to understand. It isn't compelling because it never feels like
there is any truth to be discovered. It seems to take place in the future, but
there is no explanation for that, or reason why it would be. It never becomes
clear who Santos Villa is, or the significance of his power.

The other massive problem with the film is in its pacing. There are a few
moments where the film kicks into high gear, with these nightmarish montages of
the images in Fausto's head. However, the rest of the film moves so slowly that
it gets downright dull, which is a bad idea for a psychological thriller. Just
at the moments when the film should accelerate to some kind of climax, it slows
down and lumbers along with bland dialogue scenes that confuse issues even
more.

The Rebuttal Witnesses

Conceptual issues aside, there are some pleasures to be found in this grim
thriller. The art direction, editing, and cinematography are some of the most
gruesome and fascinating that I have ever seen. The world of nightmare that the
film creates doesn't make much sense, but it is always dark, disturbing, and
ugly. This doesn't redeem the problems of the film, but fans of psychological
horror and this kind of visuals may want to check it out just for the art
design.

As well, the film doesn't have to make sense in order to raise questions
about power and corruption. As his wishes become fulfilled and he is able to do
more things, Fausto immediately moves towards more horrible and immoral things.
Why is it that we wish for things that we cannot and should not have? Why is
Fausto so easily trapped by the young girl at the party? Why does he wish for
the freedom to break and destroy things? At the same time, there is a part of
all of us that dream and imagine things that we know should never come to pass.
Fausto 5.0 exists in a world where everyone has these wishes fulfilled.
Maybe a world like that could never be understood and could never make
sense.

The film is bolstered by several excellent performances. Miguel Ángel
Solá is subtle and effective as Fausto, beginning with cold detachment but
becoming more and more frantic as the film goes on. Eduard Fernández is
much less subtle as Santos, but he has the charismatic appeal that is required
to make his role effective. The smaller roles are also well cast and played,
every bit as garish and bizarre as the backdrops and cinematography.

Fox has also done an admirable job with the technical transfer of the film.
The video is very good, with a small amount of dirt on the print and good
reproduction of color and black levels. The audio transfer is even better,
reaching a level of immersion that I don't think I have ever witnessed before.
Even in scenes of dialogue, there are constant noises rippling through the sound
field. The soundtrack is made up of mostly ambient noises and beats constantly
in the background.

Unlike the audio and video transfers, Fox didn't do such a great job in the
extras department. There are none, not even a trailer. I would have been
fascinated to get a chance to hear the cast and crew talk about the film, how
they drew inspiration from the original story in order to fashion this film.

Closing Statement

It's hard to know whether to recommend Fausto 5.0 to anyone. It does
have a great transfer and some of the most impressive visual and audio design I
have ever seen. However, an absolute mess of a story, some really boring
sections, and a few scenes that push the lines of appropriateness make me
hesitate to recommend it too strongly. Stiff-stomached fans of bizarre
psychological horror may want to give it a rental, but the complete lack of
extras keeps it from warranting a blind buy.

The Verdict

The court remains undecided about Fausto 5.0. I will therefore place
it on probation, and hope to never see it in my courtroom again.